The following discussion of the background invention is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. However, it should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgment or admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in Australia as at the priority date of the application.
Commercial medical diagnosis instruments are generally expensive to purchase. In remote or sparsely populated regions, the cost of purchasing the diagnosis instruments may be commercially unrealistic when weighed against the number of people such instruments will service. This means that the patient has to travel to a remote service provider in order to be diagnosed via such instruments. This can then be costly for the patient, both in monetary terms and possibly in health terms. Even in situations where the above problem does not exist, there may still be the problem of the lack of specialist expertise necessary to properly operate such instruments.
In PCT/AU01/00570, the applicant's describe a portable slit lamp being adapted particularly for use in sparsely populated and remote regions. However, the portable slit lamp described is limited in its diagnostic capabilities—the portable slit lamp only providing functionality for imaging the anterior segment of the eye. Further, the portable slit lamp described requires the operator to familiarise themselves with the various switches and levers provided thereon to properly operate the device.